The ballad of Johnny Football picked up a few new verses as No. 15 Texas A&M
battled No. 1 Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Thanks largely to the mesmerizing play of the Aggies' phenomenal dual-threat
freshman quarterback, Alabama found itself facing its largest deficit in years
early in the first half. Perhaps no play captured the schoolyard ingenuity and
beyond-his-years poise of the emerging folk hero out of Tivy High School in
Texas than this touchdown pass in the first quarter.

Taking the snap in the shotgun formation in a 3rd-and-goal situation at Bama's
10-yard line, Manziel (yes, his surname isn't actually football) received the
ball and dropped back a few steps, looking to his left. Not liking what he
saw, the 19-year-old right-handed quarterback stepped up in the pocket and
looked for an escape route to his right. With the pocket collapsing under
pressure, Manziel bumped into one of his own lineman. Knocked to his left,
Manziel briefly lost both his footing and his grasp on the ball. With waves of
Tide rushers crashing around him, he found his feet and the ball, switching it
briefly to his left hand as he scrambled back toward the ...